AndyO Blog

My son Drew took this picture of Rocky on New Year's Day, 2012.

I think Rocky looks both bothered and relaxed at the same time.

Labels: Fun, Photos, random

1/14 - Added a section on Camp Olson

Happy New Year to everyone. I'm finally writing up a "year in review" story, which is also kind of a holiday/Christmas card. I haven't done this for a few years, but it seemed like a good time to look back.

New Car

After 13 years, our Subaru Outback died (head gasket). The sad thing is we actually tried to fix it. This was the car that had taken us 165,000 miles, the car that carried our two children home from the hospital after they were born.

Then there was that dark and stormy night in December, 2010, when the Outback overheated before I got to the 520 bridge. I had to pull over to that bus stop right before the bridge. The head gasket had blown for the last time.

It was time to buy a new car. Here's a picture of Cameron and me on the way to picking up our new car -- the last picture of us with the old Outback:

Here we are with the new one:

Unfortunately, this car would go on to have two accidents in 2011 -- one of them involving major body work. Here's what it looked like after I was hit in that first accident (it might not look at that bad, but this was $6000+ in damage):

If you see a truck driving around from InfraSource in your neighborhood, a sub-contractor for Puget Sound Energy, give them a lot of space. They don't like to take responsibility for their employees who make right-hand turns from the left lane.

Travels

Semiahmoo - February

Brenda and I took the kids up to Semiahmoo for one night in February. There are three things I'll remember from this trip:

1. The indoor/outdoor pool with the steam rising into the cool air (actually, it was also raining).

2. The juvenile bald eagle we saw as we drove the jetty to the hotel. I thought it was a golden eagle, but the wife of colleague who studies birds identified it for me:

3. The spicy burger I ate at Packers restaurant that practically blew my head off!

Lake Chelan - June

For the past 11 years, we've gone to Lake Chelan for a conference that Brenda directed. This was our last one, as Brenda was laid off from her job in the fall. But we plan to return to Chelan again in the summer, as it's become a tradition.

Here's a picture of Cameron returning from an afternoon swim:

Here's a picture of Drew discovering the joys of the hot tub at twilight:

Hawaii - Maui - July

We took a vacation to Hawaii this year (our third trip there since 2005). Instead of going in the winter, we traveled in July for about two and a half weeks. We stayed in three places, including: Kihei, Hana, and Kaanapali. We'd never been to Maui, but I'm starting to think this is the best island for what I like to do (mostly snorkeling). But there's so much diversity on this island, with a 10,000 foot mountain, a rain forest, and some amazing beaches.

You can read about the first half here (I'm still working on the second half).

Ocean Shores, WA - August

We hadn't been to Ocean Shores in a while. And now I remember why. The vibe of this place just doesn't work for me, compared to places like Canon Beach and Manzanita, Oregon. But we had fun digging holes on the beach and flying kites.

Camp Olson in the Tri-Cities

There were a few journeys to the Tri-Cities this year: one in August and one in September. Brenda took the boys in August for "Camp Olson," which involved long days in Grandma and Grandpa's swimming pool. I joined them on the weekend, and we celebrated cousin Jennifer's birthday with lots of family, including a surprise visit by Uncle Gordy (AKA Freddy Pink) and cousin Sean.

In September, I took Cam and Drew to see Grandma and Grandpa and also visit with Dan, Kim, and their kids, who flew in from Arizona to celebrate Dan's Mom's 70th. While I'd seen Dan and Kim a lot in the past few years, Cam and Drew hadn't. Grandpa blasted the heater in the pool and we got in one last swim before Grandpa closed the pool.

Cain Lake - September

Brenda took Drew and two friends up to see her Mom and Gar in September. There was much playing in the water.

What we did on our birthdays

This was the year Brenda and I turned 44. When my Mom turned 44, my brother came up with a funny trumpet-like way of saying "forty-fouuuurrrr." Because this has become a legendary joke in my family, I thought we should celebrate 44 as a major birthday milestone. So we went to Maui.

Drew had his 6th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese (a rite of passage for any kid).

For my birthday, we went to the "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" exhibit (although it wasn't on my birthday). This was one of the coolest exhibits I've ever seen, with many original models from all six movies.

For Brenda's birthday (also in May), we did a bunch of stuff around Seattle, including a visit to Cupcake Royale in Ballard:

Finally, for Cameron's 11th birthday (yes, also in May), we went to Great Wolf Lodge with three of his friends. The waterpark was one of the loudest places I've ever been.

Music

Alan White Interview

In October, I interviewed one of my drum heroes, Alan White, for a lengthy, technical drum discussion for his website. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that seemed a little surreal at the time. I found Alan to be a genuine, talented, funny person with so many great ideas and anecdotes about his life, drumming for Yes, and much more. I'm pleased with the results, and I'm glad a lot of the fans have enjoyed the interview. I'm working on a longer story about this experience that I'll publish on this blog soon.

Cameron's first Jazz performance and drum solo

Cameron joined the Jazz band at his school, which meets after school for two hours twice a week. At his first concert, he surprised me with his confidence and swing behind a drum kit (and I wasn't the only one who noticed). As I told people, I knew he could play drums, but playing with a big band in front of hundreds of people is another story. It takes a lot to perform like that. He even had a few solo fills. It's amazing to watch your kids start to do things you never did (I was never good enough on the drums to play in Jazz during Jr. High and High School).

Earlier in the year, Cameron played in his school's talent night. He played a drum solo in front of a lot of people (again, something I haven't done). You can watch it here:

Rush - Time Machine Part 2 - Phoenix and The Gorge

Once again Rush traveled around the United States, Canada, and Europe on the second leg of their "Time Machine" tour. I saw two shows in 2011, both of them better than the 2010 shows. While I blogged about the first in Phoenix, I didn't write about the show at the Gorge, the last of the tour. One reason was I went to Hawaii shortly after that concert. But another reason was it was such a magical show that I didn't think I'd be able to put it into words. Instead, I posted pictures and a video.

Famous people who stopped by my work

Tom Brokaw stopped by my work to talk about his new book, The Time of Our Lives. It's pretty amazing to see someone like Brokaw in person, after seeing him on TV most of my life. Watching him on the stage as he talked about the United States, past, present, and future, I was reminded about how we really need journalists like Brokaw to synthesize information and communicate it to the masses. We seem to be missing real journalists now, as commentary and comedy both pass for journalism.

Michael Moore stopped by my work in October to talk about his book Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life. I wrote a long article about this experience. He was one of the most genuine, patriotic, and passionate people I've ever seen. 

Once again, Happy New Year, and peace, love, and understanding in 2012.

Labels: Concerts, Famous people, Hawaii, Maui 2011, Year in review

When tolling started on the 520 bridge on Thursday, December 29, 60% fewer cars crossed the bridge than on a normal day. It was clear that many people were diverting to avoid the tolls. Everyone knew the real test would start today, January 3, when most people were returning to work from the holiday vacations.

I took the bridge around 8:00 a.m. this morning, Eastbound, and it was one of the best commutes in a long time. I came back to Seattle around 6:00 p.m, and again I experienced no delays -- until I got to I-5.

In all, it took 20 minutes to drive 15 miles this morning using 520. (Average time in the past was around 30 minutes.)

In the evening, it took around 30 minutes to drive home -- mostly because I-5 was backed up. (Average time in the past was around 45 minutes.)

According to the WSDOT site, things went pretty well on 520:

SR 520

• Westbound SR 520 from Bellevue to Seattle was 5-7 minutes faster. Traffic volumes dropped by 45 percent from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Typical travel times are 15-20 minutes. Volumes edged up a bit in the 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. hour after a disabled semi-truck blocked one lane on westbound I-90 on Mercer Island and pushed drivers to SR 520.
• Eastbound SR 520 from Seattle to Bellevue was 5-7 minutes faster. Traffic volumes dropped by 35 percent. Typical travel times are 12 -20 minutes.

The same wasn't true for I-90, the bridge that doesn't have a toll:

I-90

• Drivers used I-90 as an alternative to SR 520. Westbound I-90 traffic increased 25 percent until the disabled semi-truck blocked one lane on Mercer Island. During the incident, traffic dropped 8 percent below average. Travel times increased by 15 minutes during the incident.
• Eastbound I-90 traffic increased by 20 percent and travel times averaged 4 minutes longer. Typical travel times are 10-16 minutes.

I've heard a lot of talk about this new toll -- mostly negative. But it sure was nice to have a smooth, fast commute for once. I'll be curious to see if this continues.

Labels: 520 bridge, Seattle

Recently, I'd heard about two businesses that sounded really interesting:

• Gazelle - Pays you money for your old gadgets. They send you a box and you send your old electronics for cash (or a gift certificate).
• Beezid - Bid on items and (hopefully) get them for a huge discount.

These sound pretty good at first. But when you dig deeper, both of these come up short, at least for my purposes.

Gazelle

Everyone has old electronics sitting around the house. I actually have an old Xbox 360 Elite. I plugged this in at Gazelle to see what I could get, and here's the chart that came up:

Clicking through to the end, I saw this:

Unfortunately, we can't offer you any money for this item

Even though we can't pay you, we'd still like to help you recycle it responsibly. It's easy. Just click the 'recycle' button to add it to your box. As long as something else in your box has value, we'll still pay for shipping.

That's really nice that they're willing to send me a box to recycle it, but I still have to pay for shipping (unless I'm sending something else of value).

After getting offers of $0.00 for a few items I searched on, I plugged in my wife's brand-new Kindle Fire (which I bought for $199.00) and got the following offer:

So, I checked out eBay, and Kindle Fire's are listed for around $180 (although I'm not sure they all sell for this). The point is, I would expect a Fire to go for at least $120.

After browsing through Gazelle, it wasn't clear how I could ever get a fair price for anything in my garage. In most cases, I got no price. And the ever-so-helpful "we'd like to help you recycle it responsibly" message is exploitation masquerading as concern: Send us your stuff (and you pay for shipping), and we'll then "recycle" it for you. Yes, they might actually recycle your electronics -- but I don't think they'd be recycling anything because it's the right thing to do. This is most likely how they make most of their money.

Go to SiteJabber.com for more information from other people about Gazelle.

Beezid

I'd heard about Beezid being a place you can save up to 99% on auctions. Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? Here's what some of the auctions look like (what they call Live Penny Auctions):

Given that this looked a little too good to be true, I checked out how you bid for items on Beezid. Here's what I found on their FAQ site:

We offer several bid packages tailored to meet your needs. The cost for each bid will vary based on the package you choose. Bids are available in packs of 30, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 and range from $0.55 - $0.90 per bid. The more bids you buy, the cheaper it gets for each bid, and the greater the savings you can enjoy! Get yourself a Bid Pack and jump into the savings!

Wait a minute -- you need to pay between $0.55 and $0.90 per bid, even if you don't win anything? That sounds similar to another type of business: video slot machines at casinos. In this case, Beezid makes their money from all the bids that people put in. There's one "winner," who gets a great deal on an iPad, but everyone else loses.

I'm wondering how something like this could be legal? I mean, didn't the government shut down all the online poker for money sites in 2006? Actually, they did. But then United States Department of Justice just reversed this decision. (I just found this out while writing this article.)

OK, back to Beezid: If you like to pay for the privilege of bidding on an item, then this site's for you. But I'm of the belief that you can't get something for nothing. Even if you do get an item for free or cheap somewhere, think of all the time it took to get that item. This is why eBay's never worked for me -- I don't have the time or patience to watch auctions. I admire people who do have this ability, but it's not for me.

As to whether Beezid is a scam or a good deal, SiteJabber seems to agree with me that it's a scam.

Labels: Commentary, random, technology, websites

Update: 12/26/11

John Livingston sent me a video of Larry David demonstrating what "wrap rage" is all about:

-----------------

Finally, a retailer is offering an alternative to the wasteful, frustrating packaging that you usually have to tear open with knives, scissors, or worse. I've nearly cut myself on some of these packages in the past.

Amazon's "Frustration Free" packaging is innovative thinking in this world of impossible-to-open plastic packages. I can only hope this spreads to other companies.

Here's what Amazon has to say:

Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, a multi-year initiative designed to alleviate "wrap rage," features recyclable boxes that are easy to open and free of hard plastic clamshell cases, plastic bindings, and wire ties. The product itself is exactly the same--we�ve just streamlined the packaging. Learn more. 

Labels: random